Of Heroes and Clones
by norrific
Summary: Kyle and Jessi get a little help saving Amanda.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

_He was invisible as he kept to the shadows. Following her, studying her. Missing her. He knew, because she told him, that she was on her way back to her father's house. Wanting a few hours in a place, another home, that turned out to be an illusion. She'd go to her bedroom, walk through all the memories she had there. Because good or bad, she wanted to hang on to what few she had. But, for him, the thought of her facing that alone was near unbearable. He wished more than anything he could hold her._

_He stopped when she did. Smiled when she turned her face up to the cool night air, taking it in, claiming it as her own as well. Her hair fluttered in the breeze, a smile played at the corners of her lips. Other than the length of her hair, she hadn't changed at all. He thought he liked her longer hair better, because it was more her. But couldn't help but appreciate the way the shorter cut showed off the graceful curve of her neck. Either way she was beautiful, both ways she'd been his. Until he lost her, watched as she disappeared into the night and right out of his life. No, he gave his head a quick shake, he couldn't think that way. He could fix this, he was here to fix this._

_She glanced back, the green eyes that held him so firmly scanning the darkened street. Looking back toward the school, the prom that was so far away and-for him-so long ago. Mentally he cursed himself when he thought of going back. To before the prom, before this night. He should have asked her, should have given her a new memory, a good memory. Danced with her, held her. But he thought of nothing but stopping her from leaving, of establishing, solidifying, his connection to her before another could interfere._

_"I know you're back there, I know you've been following me." Her voice didn't shake despite the apprehension she felt. "I can hear you."_

_He knew she was frightened, more for him than for herself. She didn't want to hurt him, didn't want to do anything that would cause another to look at her with disappointment. That's what made her Jessi. Jessi. Her name was like a balm on his battered soul. My Jessi._

_"How do you know my name?" She demanded._

_He nearly smiled, of course she heard him. He was a man of many talents, capable of things many wouldn't believe unless they saw it with their own eyes. But he couldn't shut her out, couldn't close himself off from her. Even if he could, why would he want to._

_"Answer me!" All along the street the light posts blew, leaving them in nothing but darkness._

_"I'm not here to hurt you." He moved until he was within a breath of her. He could see her as clear as if the lights were still on._

_Jessi could feel his eyes on her, studying her, watching her. His gaze heavy on her, like he knew her; better than Kyle, better than even herself. Like he knew who she'd been, who she was now, and who she would be. Like he missed her. "You can't hurt me."_

_"I can." He had. He'd been reckless, foolish, and selfish. He hurt her. Terribly. She hadn't been prepared, but how could she have been when he surprised even himself. "You need to go back."_

_"Where?"_

_"To the school. Kyle's in trouble. He needs you." It hurt watching her take off, but he knew she would. It was now as it would be; she went wherever Kyle needed her. Ten years and the resentment still burned inside him. But he knew he had to get passed that to fix what his jealousy had destroyed. He could not lose her. "I need you." Closing his eyes he imagined home, hoping she'd be there when he opened his eyes again._

**Chapter 1**

"Kyle, wait."

"Jessi?"

"No. Don't you hear that? Can't you _feel_ that?"

Kyle Trager fought desperately against the urge to snap at his friend. He realized that she was risking a lot by helping him, but he was running very short on patience. He knew Amanda was somewhere in this building; he could feel her. And something told him that if they didn't get to her, get her out, as soon as possible, he may never see her again. Part of him wanted to snatch away from Jessi's grip, but something in her eyes stopped him. And that's when he heard it..._felt_ it. They were not alone.

_How?_

_Don't know._ Jessi communicated back. _But someone's-_

_What? Jessi, what?_ But then, even before Jessi shook her head, Kyle knew. Not only were they not alone in the room, someone had got into their heads as well. Immediately he shut down, making his mind a complete and total blank. He knew Jessi had done the same as well. Which made things slightly more difficult. How were they suppose to figure out the best way to get through this when they couldn't communicate.

When Amanda had gone missing, Kyle thought he would lose his mind with worry and fear. He didn't know if he'd been the one to call Jessi, someone in his family had, or she simply came back because she knew he needed her. Somehow their roles became reversed. He stopped thinking. Wanted-needed-to immediately jump into action. Finding Amanda was the most important- no- the only thing in his life. But Jessi pulled him back. Channeled her energy into him, brought him down. And together they followed the steps that lead them here. To a paper factory in Texas.

"Sir."

Kyle frowned. "Sir?"

"No." Jessi shook her head sharply. "C.I.R."

The light dawned. Kyle reached out for Jessi, his hands wrapping around her forearms as she did the same. Digging deep, he directed all his energy into her, the only thing holding him up was Jessi's grip on his arms. But then he felt the push from Jessi; all that he had, multiplied and redirected by her. His body jerked with the shock of it, then began to shake with raw energy. He could feel it humming through Jessi as well. Then it was like a trigger was pulled. They sent out a surge of energy so powerful it bounced off the walls.

They recovered at the same time; it was a trick they discovered. What little energy they had left was manipulated and passed back and forth between them until they were both on their feet.

"Jessi!" She was halfway out of the room when Kyle called out to halt her movement.

Following his line of vision, Jessi started towards the two prone bodies on the floor. The men, dressed in black much like Kyle and herself, looked to be in their mid to late twenties. "Who do you think they are?"

"I think the better question is, how did they make themselves invisible like that?"

"I never would have thought that was possible. Even for us." She knelt between the two unconscious men. Giving a sigh of relief when she felt a faint pulse at both their throats. For reasons she couldn't quite understand, her fingers lingered at the neck of the smaller of the two men. "They don't look-" Realizing what she was about to say, Jessi cut herself off. Better than anyone, she knew how deceiving looks could be. "Do you think they're like us?"

Kyle shook his head. "I don't know. But I think we need to find Amanda and get out of here."

The building's alarms had sounded only seconds after Jessi and Kyle found the room in which Amanda was being held. But before Kyle could take a step a man appeared and in a blink he was gone. Taking Amanda with him. It all happened so fast that for a moment Kyle and Jessi thought they had imagined the whole thing. Then the alarms went off. Jessi recovered first. Grabbing Kyle's arms she pulled him from the room. People were everywhere, no one noticed them.

"Amanda!" Kyle seemed to have finally gotten his voice back. "We have to go back."

"She's gone, Kyle."

"No! Jessi, let me go. We can't leave."

"Kyle!" Against her better judgment, she stopped. Realizing that Kyle was unable to comprehend what was going on. "She's gone. They took her. But we found her once, we'll find her again. Dig deep. She's alive. You know she's alive."

He was fighting her. He didn't want her calming him down, he didn't want to think about this rationally. Not when what he'd just seen was completely irrational. But his emotions were scattered. He couldn't concentrate. And finally, Jessi won out. "Your right. I know you're right."

"I promise, we'll find her again. But we have to go. Now."

They both turned, only to face the barrel of a gun. "You two. Hold it right there."

"You took the words right out of my mouth. Put your gun down."

Jessi and Kyle turned again to see the two men from earlier. This time they were accompanied by a tall blonde woman. The one who spoke was holding a gun as well. The woman held no weapon, but stood on the balls of her feet, seemingly ready to go at a moments notice. The other man didn't have a weapon either. But didn't really need one when his hands were emitting fire.

"You guys were knocked out by a couple of kids?"

"They're not regular kids. Besides, I don't know how you can say that when Monica's outside kicking ass _Matrix_ style."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Do you guys actually think now is the time to be snipping at each other?"

Before any of them knew what was happening, they were surrounded. Then everything seem to happen all at once. Fire was shot at the ceiling, water began to rain down. Kyle and Jessi reacted immediately, manipulating the water until they were held, with three others, inside a protective bubble.

"I think I owe you an apology, Parkman."

"Apology accepted, Nikki."

"Who are you?" Kyle demanded. His intention was to protect himself and Jessi, but it seemed she had other ideas.

"We can ask you the same thing?" The one called Parkman shot back. Bullets were trying to penetrate the field Kyle and Jessi created.

"We don't have time for this." The man whose hands were still alight with fire, shot out. "On the count of three, drop the field."

Kyle was ready to argue, but it seemed Jessi had already made the decision for them. The water came down, Jessi pulled Kyle to the ground just as flames shot over their heads. The blonde was off and running and before Kyle could blink three guards were sent flying. He knew what Jessi was thinking and before he could stop her she was joining the blonde.

"Jessi!"

"The guns, Kyle." She called back. "Get their guns."

Nodding, he stood. The guards that remained on their feet were quickly disarmed. There was a blast, a hole appeared in the roof at the end of the hall. Kyle could only stare as a man literally flew through the hall. When he landed, the only thing out of place was his tie.

"Who's riding with me?"

"Grab Nikki and get out of here." There appeared to be lightening shooting from the man's hands now.

The one who flew in gave a quick nod before starting up the hall. He grabbed the blonde by the waist before shooting into the air and out of the building.

"Where the hell is Hiro?" Parkman shouted from where he was covered in a door frame.

"Hiro Nakamura reporting for duty." The man who had taken Amanda appeared before them, there was a crooked smile on his lips. "Where's my unit?"

"Right here." Parkman pulled Kyle by the elbow. "Let's go, kid."

"I can't leave, Jessi."

"Don't worry. Peter won't let anything happen to her."

_"Don't say a word."_

_As he was dragged through space and time, Peter Petrelli wondered if this was how others felt when they traveled with him. Though he rarely held people in a half nelson when he jumped so..._

_"Shut up and stay invisible."_

_Looking at himself, or who he'd be at some point in time, Peter couldn't help but wonder what turned him into such an ass._

_"You see that girl there? The blonde in the purple dress. Before the night is over she's going to be kidnapped."_

_"Who is she? Is she like us?" His questions received no answers. "Who is she? Is she important?"_

_"To him."_

_Peter's eyes went to the dark haired young man walking towards the outside doors. "So, he's important?"_

_"To the world." Placing a hand on his own shoulder, he moved them again. "To her."_

_They were on the roof now. On the other side, looking out over the edge, was a young woman. From the way she was dressed it was obvious she was not part of the dance happening below. She turned slightly. Her green eyes locking with his as if she were looking straight at him, straight through him. She knocked the air right out of his lungs. "Who is she?"_

_"Weren't you suppose to ask if she's important?"_

_Peter didn't have to ask. "Am I suppose to stop the other girl from being kidnapped?"_

_"The kidnapping happened two months from your present time." His eyes remained on the girl across from them. Tracking her every motion, listening to her rampant thoughts. "They took her to the Primatech facility in Texas. That's where you need to be tomorrow. You'll need everyone's help."_

_Peter nodded, the door leading back inside opened. Beside him, his future self tensed as the young man pointed out to him before walked out onto the roof. He watched the girl smile, felt his own lips curl in response. "Who is she?"_

_"That's for you to figure out."_

_Before he could asked for clarification, Peter was shoved back through time._


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.**

**AN1: As you all probably realized this is wildly AU from season 2 of Heroes and borrows from next season spoilers of Kyle XY. Reviews are awesome. And if necessary I will beg for them.**

**Chapter 2**

"Let go of me. Who are you people? Why-how-did you bring me here?"

"Oh, I don't know. To save your life, maybe." Parkman bit off sarcastically. Given that his neck still tweaked from the jolt the kid hit him with, Matt was not too fond of the young man at the moment.

"What do you want with me?"

"You don't have to be scared. We saved you." Hiro gave a proud eager smile. "We're heroes."

"Hiro. Parkman." The relief in Mohinder Suresh's voice was clear as he made his way from one of the back rooms. "Right on schedule."

They were at their final checkpoint: Isaac Mendez's studio in New York. The place held a certain sentimentality for the group and seemed like a logical point for them to meet, even if a bit obvious to those who they fought against.

"Monica? Elle?" Matt asked as he gave Mohinder a nod of acknowledgment.

"In the back comparing notes." Like any self-respecting little brother, Micah Sanders rolled his eyes at the apparent silliness of the two older girls. "Who are you?" He asked Kyle.

"Kyle-"

"We found him and his little girlfriend roaming around Primatech." Matt interrupted in a off-handed manner, when in reality he was tuned to the boy's thoughts. It seemed the boy was trying to block him, but couldn't fully concentrate with the concern and fear coursing through his system. He picked up certain words: Latnok. Madacorp. But never really got a clear idea of what they were. He was worried about someone other then himself, but not the girl they left behind. Somehow he knew she was safe. There was someone else. "What were the two of you doing there, kid?"

"Besides putting you and Peter on your butts." Nikki laughed as she and Nathan made their way in from the back. She hugged her son, before searching the room. "Monica and Elle?"

"West and I brought them in on the first pick up." Nathan answered before anyone else could, his eyes calmly searching the room. "Where's Claire?"

Micah looked at the Blackberry in his hand. "She and West have just flown over Lake Michigan."

Nathan began to pace the room. All the while mumbling about 'punk kids', 'teenage daughters', and 'roaming hands'.

"Claire must not be back yet." Elle laughed when she came into the room and saw Nathan pacing.

"Who's the new guy?" Monica asked.

"Apparently he and his girlfriend took out Peter and Parkman." Mohinder answered, earning a scathing glance from Matt.

"Got a name, cutie." Elle asked with a flirtatious smile.

"My God, Elle, don't you ever turn it off." Monica shook her head at the other girl.

"Who are you people?" Kyle scanned the faces that had begun to crowd the room. He felt nothing untoward from any of them. Well except for the guy in the suit pacing, who kept having thoughts of breaking some flying kids hands. "I saw him," He pointed towards Hiro. "Take Amanda. And he disappeared."

"Amanda Bloom?" Micah asked. "Were you there to save her, too."

Kyle's heart began to race. "Too? How do you know Amanda?"

"Wait," Mohinder interrupted. "How did you even get in?"

"Jessi got the code then rerouted the camera's. I got into the system and unlocked all the secured doors."

"That's why I had such a hard time talking to the mainframe." Micah began excitedly. "You guys had already confused it."

"We just wanted to get Amanda out. We nearly had her, but then he showed up. Please, tell me where she is."

"I took her home." Hiro told him gently. He saw the tears gather in the boy's eyes. "Back to Washington. Her mother cried. The family next door rushed over to see."

"Thank..." Kyle's words trailed off as relief rushed through him. He thought his legs would give out on him. He could hardly see anyone for the tears in his eyes. "Thank-you." He directed to everyone in the room. It was Nikki who came over and put a comforting arm around his shoulder.

"Cool, we got a new guy." West came in the same entrance as Nathan and Nikki had only moments ago.

"Where the hell have you been?" Nathan demanded, his tone low and menacing.

"Nathan, chill." Claire stepped between her father and boyfriend. "We had to drop off the report with my dad and get the new locations from Molly."

"I thought Peter was the messenger." Mohinder asked.

"Where _is_ Pete?" Nathan wondered as he took hold of his daughter's hand and lead her away from West. "Micah?"

"He's traveled." The boy answered grimly. "He won't come up on the screen."

"Damn it, Pete."

"Wait," Kyle began anxiously. "What about Jessi? We left her there."

"Who's Jessi?" This from West.

"Who's he?" This from Claire.

"From what I hear, he and his girlfriend laid Peter and Parkman on their asses." Elle offered.

"They're going to stop letting you come." Monica joked, even as she tried her best not to laugh.

"Awesome." West grinned. "What can they do?"

"They're technopaths like me." Micah answered. "They screwed up the Primatech system."

Matt shook his head. "They're like me. They shot some kind of mind whammy at me and Peter."

"I don't know about him." Nikki pointed to Kyle. "But the girl is like me. Super strength, Elle." She added, not missing the look that crossed the other blonde's face. "Not the other thing."

"Maybe they're wonder twins." Monica suggested. "Like Maya and her brother."

"Sounds to me like they're empaths, like Peter." Mohinder concluded.

"None of this helps us find Jessi." Kyle interrupted. "I can't feel her anymore."

"What do you mean?" Mohinder asked. "Are the two of you connected?"

Kyle nodded. "It's something we've been working on all summer. Before we could only feel each other if we were in the same area. But now I can feel her no matter where she is. She's not dead!" He snapped out at Elle. "I would have felt that."

"Maybe it's not a matter of where she is...." Nathan began.

"But when." Hiro concluded.

"Okay," Elle began in a huff. "How come when I use my powers on someone, I get snapped at. But the new kid just read my mind and no one said anything."

"Elle," Matt sighed her name. "You hit West with lightening. Twice. You could have killed him."

"Okay, the first time was on orders from my dad. I hadn't found the light yet."

"And the second time?"

"He ate my ice cream. Any of you would have done the same thing." It didn't help that Elle really couldn't stand the little weirdo anyway. She still hadn't figured out how Claire put up with him. "Besides, the new kid just invaded my privacy. That's a lot worse than electrocuting someone."

"Have you ever been electrocuted, Elle?" West asked.

"I've been shot. And I didn't cry like a bitch about it to anyone who would listen."

"You did go on and on about it, West." Monica added. "Almost to the pointed where I wanted her to hit you again to shut you up."

"Imagine how _I _felt." Claire mumbled.

"Children," Nikki interrupted. "I think we have bigger issues. Like finding out what happened to Peter and Jessi, right."

Kyle nodded. "You have to find her. I don't know what I'd...."

"Maybe Hiro should take him home." Matt suggested.

"I'm not leaving without Jessi."

"She's with Peter." Mohinder told Kyle. "He won't let anything happen to her."

"Am I the only one who remembers the last woman Peter traveled through time with? The one trapped in New York circa hell." Elle reminded everyone needlessly.

"Hey, Elle," Nathan shook his head. "Don't help."

"Besides," Monica began. "They changed the future, so I'm sure she's okay. Now."

"Monica, maybe you shouldn't help either."

"If she's like Peter, she wouldn't be trapped anyway." West offered. "Once she figures out how to use her powers she should be fine."

"I don't think we should comfort ourselves with the hope that maybe, one day, hopefully, this girl will figure out her powers and get home." Nikki's voice was as kind as she could make it. The kid really wasn't all that bright.

"But it does put her in a better position than the other girl." Monica added.

Elle nodded. "That's true."

"You guys don't know Jessi." Kyle argued. "She can do anything she sets her mind to. She jumped off a cliff and landed on her feet, she's run across water, she's..." Kyle's eyes began to fill with tears. "I can't lose her."

"When you say she jumped off a cliff," Matt began. "Like did she jump or fly?"

"If she's like Peter," Nathan argued. "How would she have flown if she hasn't come across anyone who can fly?"

"Because she's not like me. They're not like any of us." Peter made his entrance from the back of the building, Jessi's hand locked firmly in his. "And I can explain it all later, but we have to get out of here. Now."

"Jessi!" Kyle ran across the room to wrap his arms around her. "Amanda's okay. They took her home."

"I know. Peter told me." Not to mention she had felt his relief, his happiness, as if it were her own.

"What's going on, Pete?"

"They know where we are. They're on their way." His gaze scanned over the room full of people. "We've got about ten minutes. Hiro, get Micah out of here now. Mohinder?"

"I'm already gone." Mohinder was practically running when he exited the building.

Hiro didn't even bother to ask why, simply walked over to the little boy, and in the next instant the two were gone.

"Monica, Claire, and Elle should go next." Peter decided. "Nathan?"

"I'll take Monica and Claire. Elle can go with West." Nathan answered, trying not to smile at Elle's not so quiet response.

Hiro was back, he took Nikki's hand and a protesting Kyle, blinked just as Peter shot a hole through the roof of the building for Nathan and West to fly through.

"There's computers in the back." Peter told Jessi. She nodded, letting go of his hand for the first time to run into the back room.

"What is she going to do?" Matt asked.

A small grin curled Peter's lips. "I'm not really sure. But I do know that no one will ever be able to find anything on those systems after she's done."

Matt thought he caught a hint of pride in Peter's eyes, wanted to question it, but Jessi came back into the room. Peter reached out and without any hesitation, Jessi took his hand. Peter was going to have a lot of explaining to do when they got back home.

"Ready, Parkman?"

Matt nodded, placing his hand on Peter's shoulder. To his utter surprise, Jessi turned into the younger man. Wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. Peter gazed down at her with a gentle smile on his lips, even as his arm came up to wrap securely around her waist.

"Sorry, Isaac." The arm that wasn't holding Jessi, shot out.

Flames began to engulf the room by the time the first round of armed men battered down the door. But they didn't need to see through the thick cloud of smoke to know that there was no one inside the building.


	3. Chapter 3

**I disclaim. I own nothing.**

**AN: I haven't quite weened out all the characters yet, so there are still a lot of people in this chapter. I hope it doesn't get too confusing. But I wanted to give a quick run down of the Heroes characters for those who don't watch the show. **

**The Petrelli's: Nathan (flight) and Peter (empath) are brothers. Claire (regeneration) is Nathan's newly discovered daughter. Angela (dreams the future) is Peter and Nathan's awesomely wicked mother. Claire was taken from her mother when she was a baby (Nathan thought she died in a fire) and was raised by Noah Bennet and his wife in Texas. **

**The Sanders: Nikki (Superstrength) was married to D.L (phase). He died in a fire. They have one son Micah who came communicate with machines. Monica (mimcry) is Micah's cousin on his father's side**

**Matt Parkman (reads minds) is a cop and he and Mohinder (no abilities, he's a scientist who's father discovered the genetic code for people with abilities) live together. Molly is a little girl who's parents were murdered and she now lives with them. She has the ability to find anyone who has abilities.**

**Elle Bishop's (lightening) father ran The Company, an organization that tracked the heroes. Claire's adoptive father Noah also worked for The Company as well.**

**Hiro (bends space and time).**

**AN2: I hope this clears things up a little bit. Sadly it'll be another few chapters before the list of characters decrease. (Imagine the wackiness that'll ensure when the Tragers get involved.)**

**Chapter 3**

"So, you saw her? And she's okay?"

"We saw her." Nicole answered slowly, turning weary eyes to her husband Steven. "As for okay, Kyle, she doesn't remember anything. Not even how she got home."

Kyle glanced around at the room full of strangers. "I doubt she'd even believe it if she did remember. Maybe it's for the best. I don't know what they did to her there, Nicole."

"No, Kyle. The last thing Amanda remembers is getting ready for the prom. Everything after that..." Nicole trailed off. "I'm sorry you can't speak to her yourself." She didn't tell him how Amanda had asked for him. How disappointed the girl was when he wasn't there.

"You can't really blame Mrs. Bloom. I promised to take care of her daughter and she goes missing for two months."

"It'll do no good to blame yourself." Like everything else, she knew he took this on his shoulders. "When are you coming home?"

"Soon." Kyle assured her. "I promise." He noticed Matt come into the room, Peter and Jessi were behind him their hands still locked together. "I have to go. I'll call you back."

"Have Jessi call, too. I'd like to hear from her." Nicole smiled. "Though he won't admit it, Josh is actually really worried about her. We love you, Kyle."

"I love you, too."

"Okay, Pete, we need explanations. And now."

"How can you be so sure they're not like the rest of you." Mohinder asked. "When everything I've heard, points to them being special."

"They are special." Peter agreed. "But not in the same way we are. And the first clue I got was the fact that they don't have belly buttons."

_Jessi!_ Kyle reprimanded her mentally. He couldn't believe she shared that information with an absolute stranger.

_Trust me, I kind of didn't have much of a choice._ Jessi answered back. _Can you just show them? Please?_

Kyle hesitated a moment, but realizing Jessi didn't want to lift her shirt in from of a room full of strangers, he relented. Clearing his throat, he drew everyone's attention to himself before lifting up the hem of the T-shirt.

"Well I see Latnok finally did it." Angela Petrelli came into the room with all her regal glory.

"Mother." Shaking his head, Nathan walked across the room to the wet bar in the corner. "Of course."

A short while later Angela Petrelli was the center of attention. She sat in a high back chair, speaking to the room, addressing no one. She had everyone's undivided attention. Forever the Queen, blessing the peasants with her time. And when she was done talking, she lazily lifted her glass of brandy to her lips. An absent wave of her hand, the only sign that it may be okay for others to speak now.

Nathan was the first to brave it. "So what you're saying is that The Company, Madacorp, Latnok, Zzyzx...."

"Fruit of the same tree." Angela finished for her son. "Adam Monroe brought in Latnok, although they didn't have a name then. They were the scientist behind the Shanti virus, they were no more than children at the time really. But thanks to our dear Adam, those very intelligent children got a little a head of themselves. Figured they could create their own race of super humans. They just needed the right test subject."

"Adam Baylin." Kyle answered.

"He passed all of the psychological test." Angela nodded.

"Sarah probably failed them all." Jessi mumbled, beside her Peter wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"I wouldn't say she failed them." Angela corrected. "Sarah refused to be boxed in. Latnok realized they wouldn't be able to control her or any of her...offspring. Which lead Brian Taylor to Madacorp. He fancied himself to be in love with Sarah, and he might have been. But a lot of what he did involved a need to prove he was better than Baylin. What Latnok didn't count on was Sarah rubbing off on Baylin as well. He didn't agree with Latnok on a few things and went off to form Zzyzx."

"Why?" Elle and Monica asked at the same time.

"Why all the cloning and developing and the..." Monica made a vague waving motion with her hands. "What were they hoping to accomplish."

"The same thing all evil villains hope to accomplish, dear. World domination. Once you get pass the convoluted nature in with each organization was formed, it's all quite simple really."

"No," Kyle shook his head in denial. "Adam Baylin isn't like that."

"Which is why he was forced out of his own company and nearly killed. Adam had a problem with....for lack of a better term forced breeding."

"Forced breeding?" Nikki's disgust was apparent in her voice. "Do I even want to know?"

"Well I wouldn't call it forced." Angela conceded. "But super humans were the end goal. Giving credit where it's due, it was a concept pulled from Linderman. But his idea ran more along the lines of chess. Lining up the pieces to do what he wanted. For Latnok, they were scientist, they couldn't leave things up to chance the way Linderman did."

"What gives you people the right to toy with other people's lives this way?" Nikki demanded.

"No one said we felt it was our _right._ Though many felt it was our duty. Never the less, people got to thinking. All those minds that split so long ago, started to meet again."

"A child parented by one of them," Micah pointed to Jessi and Kyle. "And one of us. They had all these equations in their system. I didn't understand it at the time."

"So, your girlfriend-" Matt began.

Kyle shook his head. "They kidnapped Amanda to get to me. They wanted to get me there. But who-"

"Claire." Micah answered hesitantly, one eye watching for Nathan's reaction. "The second part of the equation was Claire."

"It's always me." Claire mumbled dejectedly as she dropped onto the couch. Off her grandmother's look she sat up straight. "Stupid regeneration. Why couldn't I get lightening. It's so much cooler. And least likely to get you kidnapped."

"You have to admit it was a brilliant concept. Claire's ability to regenerate with Kyle's...well multiple abilities." The scientist in Mohinder couldn't help but be intrigued by the idea. So wrapped up in thought was he, that he missed the looks-a few hostile-that he received from the room. "Claire comes from parents who both displayed abilities. Grandparents as well. But her mother's side-"

"That was the unknown." Angela smirked into her glass. "Probably gave the boys in the lab a few restless nights."

"You know Claire," Monica began. "If your daddy finds out that The Company was planning on sending you to some baby making camp he might never let you leave the house again."

Elle cast appreciative eyes in Kyle's direction. "She could do worse." Her gaze flicked over West. "A lot worse."

"She's not going to be doing anything at all." Nathan blurted out. "I'm not going to let anyone treat my daughter like some damn horse to be used to....breed champions." It actually pained him to get the sentence out. For as long as he lived he'd never have another teenage daughter.

"Oh, I don't think you have to worry about that anymore, Nathan." Angela's smile was sly. "I think they have other candidates now."

Slowly the group followed Angela's amusing gaze. Standing slightly away from the rest of the group, it took Peter and Jessi a moment to realize that everyone had turned their attention to them. Peter's arm was still wrapped around Jessi, her head rested on his shoulder.

"What did you see when you traveled, Pete?" Nathan asked slowly.

"I saw Isaac's loft looking as if it had been ransacked." Peter answered, even as he shifted until Jessi was standing behind him. As if shielding her from the room. "That's how I knew to get out of there."

"What else did you see?"

"It doesn't matter, Nathan. We've changed the future before, we can do it again."

"How are we suppose to change something, when we don't know what it is we're trying to change?"

"Maybe Peter doesn't want you lot to go around changing things." Angela offered. There really was little she enjoyed more than stirring the pot.

"Mother, please."

"Jessi," Kyle turned to her. She wouldn't meet his gaze, closed her mind off so that he couldn't get in. "Jessi, talk to me. Where did he take you? What did you see?"

"I have question." Elle interrupted, it was clear they weren't going to get anywhere with Jessi and Peter. "How did he know she didn't have belly button? Did it come up in conversation while they were kicking Company henchmen ass? How exactly did she work that into the conversation, Peter?"

Peter shot Elle a withering look, dropping his mental shields long enough for Matt to get a glimpse inside his head.

"Son of a bitch." Matt swore. "I guess they did get new candidates. It's Peter and Jessi, Elle."

"Cute," Elle smiled even as she flipped him off. "But in case you weren't paying attention, I had it figured out already."

"Damn it, Ma." Nathan turned to his mother. "You'd allow this."

"Really, Nathan. You can't deny the fact that they'd give me lovely grandchildren."


End file.
